


Happy Birthday

by BairnSidhe



Series: Bodies-verse [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Birthday Party, Families of Choice, Gen, Odin's A+ Parenting, Recovering childhoods, Red Room's A+ Parenting, birthdays of choice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 12:41:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9491366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BairnSidhe/pseuds/BairnSidhe
Summary: Natasha and Loki discover something in common: they never got to have a birthday party they liked.What can a woman born on a day different than her birthday and a God who doesn't know when he was born do for a celebration?They ask Darcy obviously.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Matlida_Nicki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matlida_Nicki/gifts).



> A birthday gift-fic for Matlida_Nicki. Happy Birthday dear!

“Papa?” Talia started.  Bucky blinked at how young she sounded.  Her eyes were guarded, which on her, actually revealed insecurity, instead of hiding it.

“Yes, Devochka?”

“I was talking to Loki…”

“Oh good God, what did that lil shit say _this_ time?  I love him for your Mama’s sake, but he can really get on my nerves.  I think he treats the calmer ones of us like a challenge.”

“You are probably right.  But he wasn’t trying to upset me, we just happened on a subject both of us have… uncomfortable feelings about.  He doesn’t like his birthday.  It wasn’t celebrated on the right day when he lived in Asgard, because of how his adoption happened.”

Bucky was struck by sudden understanding.  “And your biological birthday isn’t the same as your actual one.  We never had the chance to celebrate the right one with you, or even the wrong one except for the socialization tests, which really... don't count.”

His daughter nodded.  “I know a part of what hurts him.  But part is not even knowing when he was born, so I offered to share mine.  Not forever, just until he decides on his own birthday, he’s not sure if he wants the day Mama tasered him or the day we brought him home for good.  It’s important he thinks about it, I don’t want him regretting what he chooses.”

“That sounds like a good idea.  You know, you can ask for a birthday party yourself without framing it as a plan to help your Mama’s brother.”

“I’m multi-tasking,” she said with a sharp grin.  “You’re on deserts.  I want a chocolate cake, and Loki wants mint chocolate chip ice cream.  The green kind.”

<^>

“I still don’t fully understand… any of this,” Loki admitted as he batted a Mylar balloon away from his face.  "In Asgard, births were celebrated with great ceremony and much polite chit-chat that meant nothing, and maybe an assassination if I was lucky."

Darcy pulled a face at her brother's disconnect with the intention of a new birthday.  But maybe he needed to be eased into it.

“We aren't on Asgard, thank _fuck_ , and Nat wants to finally have a real-kid birthday party,” Darcy explained, picking up a decor kit to examine.  “And she’s sharing her birthday with you, so you get a party too.  I know what she wants out of this, but I don’t know what you want from a birthday party, so I need advice.  I know you wear a lot of green, but do you want that as the color theme?”

“I’d prefer not,” he said, poking a Hogwarts cup pack with a finger.  He still hadn’t forgiven J.K. Rowling for making Slytherin the ‘villain’ house.  “We own cups, why would we purchase more?”

“Because I know Nat wants a kid birthday.  She won’t admit she does, but she regrets the things she missed, the things I couldn’t give her.”  Darcy studied the party favor bin to hide her face, but Loki put an arm awkwardly around her shoulder.

“My sister, you are not to blame for the lack in Lady Natasha’s childhood, any more than Thor is to blame for the things I lacked in mine.”

“Thor is basically the same age as you, he was a kid and not in a place to argue about things,” Darcy defended.  The brothers still sometimes fought over that sort of thing.

“I know,” Loki said.  “And you were both a captive and hiding your very existence.  That is certainly not a place from which to argue the treatment of a child.  I will forever chide my brother over the smallest detail, as is my right as the younger, but I stopped blaming him for things he could not have safely changed during my time in Asgard’s dungeons.  Disobeying the All Father comes with a cost I’d not wish on any child, and Thor was kept a child longer than many.”

“Oh.  Thank you, Loki.  So if you don’t want green, what colors do you want?  This is supposed to be fun for us all.”

“If we are obtaining dishware as well, may we get the gold utensils?” he asked, pointing to the plastic silverware pack that looked like yellow metal.

“Of course.  I’m getting Nat a birthday girl tiara, do you want something like that, too?”

“Hmm, my experience with crowns is… mixed.  I must admit, I do like the false gems though.  They are delightfully gaudy, you wouldn’t get the courtiers of Asgard to wear that with Gungnir pointed at their heads.”

Darcy laughed.  “Why do you think I’m getting the most eye-searingly colorful one for Nat?  The Red Room program tried to drill austerity into my girls, but it back-fired on them horribly.  Conspicuous capitalist consumption is the name of this particular game.”

“Then maybe we should forgo a color theme and stay with ‘gaudy’ and ‘sparkly’ as themes.  All the colors as long as they shine, glow, or vulgarly assault the senses somehow.”

“That is brilliant, man!  There’s a pirate section over there, grab fake gems and coins, will you?  Don’t worry about prices, I have plenty of money.  Tony wouldn’t let me out of the Tower without a card, and I have Steve’s, and I have mine.”

<^>

Steve had wondered about the wisdom of Darcy’s choices but helped set up anyway.  His artistic eye had driven her to ban him from the clashing colors of the table, so he was pushed to hanging decorations, which ranged from picture cut outs of pirate treasure chests, to several large, glittery paper covered, diamond-shaped piñatas.  And Christmas tinsel, in gold and silver, which hung next to crepe-paper streamers in jewel tones.

The end effect was… extravagant.

The end effect was also worth it.  Nat’s face when Bucky took his hands off her eyes was so full of joy and love Steve had to smile.  Loki also cracked a grin, which on him was saying something.  Namely that he realized and was pleased by how much Natasha loved the garishly decorated room.  The two took seats at the table and Bucky and Darcy placed hats on them.  Natasha’s was a fluffy feather base with candles of silver painted plastic covered in fake gems and lights, and Loki was wearing a paint-splattered plastic fedora.  The prince looked rather pleased by it, and even joined in singing along.

Clint set down the cakes.  Yes, plural, as Natasha liked dark chocolate cake and Loki preferred something lighter and sweeter.  Nat’s had her name in candles and a candle shaped like a skull with eyelashes and a bow sticking out of nearly black fudge icing dusted in pink sugar.  Loki in almost a complete opposite had a circle of green candles with matching flames circling the top of his white frosted cake between the chunks of crumbled peppermint bark.

“Go on and make a wish guys,” Darcy said and Nat took a moment to grab Bucky’s hand before squeezing her eyes shut to blow out the candles.  Loki blinked before flicking a hand and blowing out the candles that way.

“Was that… as I should?” he asked.

“You’re fine,” Darcy said.  “Let’s eat!”

Over cake, they all shared favorite memories, of Nat and Loki, of birthdays they had, and things that happened at other parties.

“So, I said, ‘but he followed me home!’  Jarvis the elder was not happy,” Tony finished his story.

“Dear lord Tony, you really did have the most mal-adapted childhood I’ve ever heard of,” Natasha said.  Her grin said something else, though.  “What on earth would you even do with a llama?”

“Not much, he went to a local alpaca rescue,” Tony admitted.  “But at least he wasn’t stuck at that petting zoo, and Howard never made me do a public charity thing on my birthday again.”

“If I knew that was your base standard, Natalie Rushman would have been more prepared.”

“Let’s not talk about the birthday where I almost died, yeah?”

“Agreed,” Loki said.  “I’m glad we aren’t painfully polite, but let us stay towards the happier subjects.  Speaking of happy, I learned there was a gift giving tradition for birthdays here.  Lady Natasha, I made you a present.”

Natasha gasped as she opened the hinged box.  “Loki, they’re gorgeous, what are they?”

“Muspelheim fire opals.  When you wear them, they attune to your body’s natural seidr and will give any who try to pull the drops from your ears the sensation of burning.  They’re sturdy, and can’t be used against you in a fight, I thought you’d like that.  And the blue sets the red of your hair off nicely.”

“I love them, Loki.  Clint, where’s our present for Loki?”

“Here.  It’s not quite gems from another planet, but we thought you’d like it.”

Loki stared at the stuffed plush… something.  Steve didn’t know what it was, probably something from one of the strange television shows or web-comics Clint, Nat and Loki loved.  His face lit up.

“I beg to disagree.  Peridot is most certainly a gem from another planet.  I love it, thank you friends.”

“Actually, Mama helped,” Nat admitted.  “She knows the artist online, I was looking at the Centipeetle, but she helped me get a custom order.”

“Only the best for my birthday peeps,” Darcy said smugly.  “But hold on for the rest of the presents, guys, Tony’s gifts are… Tony scaled, and I want to hit the piñata first.”

<^>

That night everyone went to bed covered in glitter, too full of cake and ice cream, and exceptionally pleased at how the day had gone.  It was, it turned out, a very happy birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Talia and Devochka are both nicknames for Nat that Bucky uses, one is a familiar of her name and the other means 'baby girl' but both are his way of thinking of her as his daughter.
> 
> Nat's birthday in Bodies verse was the day she decided to help Bucky and Darcy with HERO, the day she stopped being a weapon of Red Room and became a sleeper agent to fight Hydra. Loki is shown in MCU canon as being taken by Odin as a baby, and I'm headcanoning that due to this, he doesn't know his real birth date.
> 
> The piñatas: https://www.etsy.com/listing/187527806/pinata-o-huge-diamond-in-metallic-gold
> 
> Nat's tiara: http://www.partycity.com/product/light+up+birthday+candle+tiara.do?sortby=ourPicks&bypass_redirect=1&familyCode=F6603940F  
> Loki's hat: http://www.partycity.com/product/totally+80s+paint+splatter+fedora.do?navSet=279698
> 
> Nat's candle that Steve can't quite identify is from Monster High, and looks like this: http://www.partycity.com/product/monster+high+candle+3in.do?sortby=ourPicks&bypass_redirect=1  
> Loki's candles: http://www.partycity.com/product/blue+green+colored+flame+candles+12ct.do?sortby=ourPicks&bypass_redirect=1
> 
> Nat's earrings: http://www.shopnightingales.com/catalog.php?item=615  
> Loki's plushie: https://www.etsy.com/listing/269042438/peridot-pillow-plushie?ref=market
> 
> Loki loves the character Peridot from Steven Universe, she's green, cranky, has a superiority complex/obsession with hierarchy, and is living on Earth after the scary and dominating 'royals' of her home abandoned her. He's not working through issues ~at all~ why would you say that?


End file.
